New chief of staff knows everyone

Between Barack Obama’s election and inauguration, Pete Rouse was known as the transition’s “keeper of the list”: He knew who was supposed to get jobs, who was owed favors.

Rouse, 64, is invisible to most of Washington, figuratively and literally: He rarely talks to reporters, and never on the record. In most White House photographs, his back is to the camera.

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Suddenly, he is in the spotlight as the interim successor to Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff. Rouse will hold the job for the foreseeable future – certainly through the Nov. 2 elections, and perhaps until the end of the year — while the president decides on a permanent replacement.

Rouse is known for being extremely methodical, and administration sources say he will give the West Wing more structure than it has had under the more improvisational Emanuel.

For example, Emanuel favored hiring a female CEO to succeed Larry Summers, the president’s departing economic adviser. But Rouse will “run a process,” according to a colleague, assessing what kind of person and skills are needed before making a recommendation to Obama.

Rouse was chief of staff for members of Congress for more than 30 years before coming to the White House – for a freshman senator from Illinois, one Barack Obama; for Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (19 years); briefly for then-Rep. Dick Durbin of Illinois; and earlier for then-Lt. Gov. Terry Miller of Alaska.

As Obama’s only Senate chief of staff, Rouse helped draw up a plan (known internally as “The Plan”) for building the freshman’s Washington clout and national visibility, and prepared the first written plan for how he could run for president.

Unknown to most of Washington, Rouse has amassed what is perhaps the city’s most powerful alumni club: Many of the city’s most powerful Democratic operatives and lobbyists had worked for him – before he came to the White House

“Rouse has an eye for talent, and they remain loyal to him for years. It’s how the Obama campaign was staffed,” a White House official.

As one example, Rouse gave Rodell Mollineau his first job in Washington, as a staff assistant for Daschle. Now, Mollineau is head of communications for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.).